The frequency allocations for wireless communication networks employing non-geosynchronous satellite communications normally reside in the UHF-, L-, S-, and K-Band frequencies or higher. Wireless communication systems utilizing K-Band frequencies require a clear line-of-sight between each node of the communication network for high-quality communications. Objects such as trees, utility poles, mountains, buildings, and overpasses that lie along the communications path will effectively fade or block the communication transmissions at K-Band frequencies and higher, therefore degrading, interrupting, or terminating the communication path.
Further, for a ground-to-satellite radio communication link that utilizes low-earth orbiting satellites which move across the sky and rise and set at the horizon, the percentage of the time that the communication link is available varies considerably depending upon the buildings, trees and other blocking items in the vicinity of the ground antenna. Customers of these systems, however, are typically not aware of the percentage of time that their link will be degraded or blocked due to such obstacles or due to rain or the existence of other atmospheric conditions whereby the possession of such knowledge provides a real-time measure of how reliable the radio will be able to communicate with one or more satellites, and enables optimal antenna location of the radio by ascertaining which location yields the best percent time linkage availability.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and a method that combines a sky blockage profile, satellite pass tracks across the sky and a radio location's weather model to predict an individual ground-to-satellite radio's percentage of successful communication linkage time with one or more satellites of a satellite communication system.